


Before Charon Industries Came

by orphan_account



Category: Red vs. Blue
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dark, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-23
Updated: 2015-05-14
Packaged: 2018-03-25 08:10:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,564
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3803080
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>*****************************************************************************************************************<br/>"We all fear the ground of Armonia, for it is the site of what might be the bloodiest battle in UNSC history. Local mercenaries Felix and Locus help to illuminate their experiences as survivors for this look at recent history." </p><p>-Before Charon Industries Came, Preface</p><p>******************************************************************************************************************</p><p>In another world, Allison's death would lead to Project Freelancer and the Simulation Troopers.</p><p>Sadly, in our world, Armonia is hallowed ground, and though Chorus has since developed into an industrial marvel under Charon, we all remember the unavoidable bloodshed.</p><p>Before Charon Industries Came is a historical account of the war before the economic reviving of the planet. </p><p>We have eyewitness accounts and opinions from primary sources, including surviving mercenaries Felix Park and Locus.<br/>*******************************************************************************************************************</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One: To Overscore the War

Many of us had never heard of Chorus before Armonia. We've all heard the body counts, though. 70,120,000 on the Federal side, and 58,322,340 on the New Republic side.

 

In other words, the Chorus Civil War was more-or-less one of the bloodiest wars fought between humans in the last few hundred years.

 

Yet we hadn't heard a thing. This book intends to illuminate the reader on the disaster, and give context to the history of the now-peaceable industrial planet.

 

While the battles raged across the planet throughout the war, the body count skyrocketed during what I usually call Phase Four of the war.

 

This designation is because the Federal Army went through many commanders, and each had a different style of leadership.

 

Thus, we have Phase Four, for the fourth commander, General Donald Hughes Doyle.

 

Phase Four is notable because of the near-tripled body count, which is in turn related to several factors, though this chapter addresses one. The others will become apparent throughout the discussion.

 

A major factor was the generals. General D.H. Doyle of the Federal side was known for his indecision, his lack of skill in battle, and by most accounts, his status as clearly unfit for command.

 

His aide, the mercenary Locus, may be more recognizable than the man himself.

 

Stories of the great UNSC naval commander who led his light frigate, the _Voice of Hurricanes,_ to victory in several major battles of the Great War, abound.

 

However, according to some contemporaries, Locus was known for his willingness to use nuclear fire, even, according to some stories, bombing his hometown. Hence, why his last name is unknown.

 

Locus' time in the UNSC was one of absolute, crushing victory against punitive forces and largely nonmilitary targets.

 

He was nicknamed the "Steed of War Itself" for wherever he came, utter ruin followed.

 

Sadly, this scorched earth style had him removed from any kind of command, where the newly-demoted Locus would ply his trade as a mercenary.

 

According to Locus, he would often write up detailed plans for Doyle, who would pretend to consider them but nearly always ask Locus to simply execute whatever he saw fit.

 

Doyle was no strategist, but he was passable at leading his men. As Locus reportedly said, "General Doyle should become a poet. He can smith words but not guns."

 

In contrast, the Phase Four New Republic leader, Kimball. Vanessa Alexandra Kimball was a polarizing figure.

 

Some, such as the late Lt. John Andersmith, considered her a hero. "She always fought for freedom with utmost certainty. I am honored to know someone so skilled and committed."

 

Others, such as mercenary Felix Park, saw her as more of a maniac.

 

"I had to keep her in check. She'd suggest some violent, slightly unhinged method of attack that would sacrifice troops by the ton to capture some artillery piece or take out some radio tower. She loved her artillery and bombers. Hell, we even used to call her Napalm Kimball! She got that bad. I'm not kidding."

 

For my money, I think that Park may have described her more accurately.

 

On one side, we have a weak and cautious General, the other side we can see Napalm Kimball. The war was bound to end with an ill-advised attack on Armonia, even on this most superficial level of examination.

 


	2. Pop Culture about the Civil War, Part One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It is said that fiction speaks more truth than astronomy, and while I'd point to the old books of Sagan to refute that, there is some truth in what our writings say about us.
> 
> The Chorus tragedy benefits from and suffers from this most of all.

Chorus, while a relatively recent war, having ended thirty years ago, still echoes through-out fiction. The drama of a war that nobody could stop still hangs over cinema and literature.

 

The legendary hatred of Felix and Locus has become something of a legendary story. Two titans, one so-called "space cowboy" and the other a bona-fide killer, duke it out for the fate of a doomed planet.

 

It's an absolute, utter tragedy. Such dramatic fictions have used the two as characters in everything from tragic romances to burning action stories.

 

For historical purposes, we will cover a heavy cross-section of such pieces, through this chapter and many more, to see how reality stacks up to pop culture.

 

**Dawnbreak Overture**

_Dawnbreak Overture_ is a story of two real-life soldiers, Antoine Bitters and and Katie Jensen, and their tragic romance, ending at Armonia. 

 

In this big-budget cinema piece clearly gunning for awards, Katie is portrayed as an emotionally tormented soldier, afraid of her President yet willing to run a small subversive radio network.

 

It is through this network that Antoine meets her. He is immediately smitten by her scathing critique of the New Republic's leadership, and the two meet away from Kimball's attack dog, Felix Park.

 

Antoine, by himself, hides a small gold and diamond ring in his room, which he intends to bring to Katie.

 

Felix, however, finds their love disgusting and unsuitable for wartime, and so he sells the diamond at a hefty price to an anonymous Federation heavy.

 

Alas, this unnamed green and grey heavy is who mans the guns that buzzsaw the heroic advance of the New Republic's more moral members.

 

While no Jensens or Bitters on Chorus survived, Felix did take issue with his characterization in the film.

 

According to the real Felix Park, he would never make a deal with an enemy, nor would he be so cartoonishly enraged by young love. 

 

He was especially peeved at charges of treason or working with the war criminal Vanessa Kimball, and the newly established Felix Park Estate sued and won. Felix represented himself at the trial.

 

** The Mother of Invention **

Named after a decommissioned UNSC ship which never saw use,  _The Mother of Invention_ is an award-winning video game which asks the player to consider questions of morality, power, and humanity.

 

The player is Vanessa Kimball of the New Republic, and contrary to most depictions as a General Ripper-type, President Kimball is treated sympathetically.

 

The player must deal with issues of waning supplies, treasonous associates, and the significant disadvantages that the New Republic faced.

 

In this sense, the New Republic is directly comparable to the Confederate States in the American Civil War.

 

The game itself is extremely historically accurate, though it paints Kimball in a sympathetic light. The game's goal is not to win the Chorus Civil War. 

 

The game's goal is to do what it takes to keep your people alive. 

 

This includes napalm, sabotage, murder, assassinations, and other dubious tactics, which forces the player to consider their actions. 

 

For their part, the developers create stunning versions of historical figures, such as the well-known Kimball and Felix, as well as the loyal Palomo and Bitters, having been reconstructed via lengthy interviews with family.

 

The player deeply cares about these people (with the exception of Felix, who, according to the real Kimball's diaries, was deeply under suspicion as a possible terrorist and traitor).

 

As in reality, in the game, should enough of her stabilizing influences die and her country dry up, Kimball will shoot herself in the head, a scene with little gore but somber music and tone.

 

The game is a sobering, artistic experience, more akin to a film festival than a blockbuster. 

 

Felix, unlike with  _Dawnbreak Overture_ , enjoyed the game, commenting that his character was a well-written villain.

 

"I mean, he's not me, but this 'Felix' does feel very real and complete. I wish I could have talked to the developers, though."

 

** Doctor, Doctor **

_Doctor, Doctor,_ is a film in the vein of Calgari and Frankenstein. It posits that the mysterious black-armored soldiers employed by the Federation were AI-implanted experiments.

 

From the beginning, this premise sounds absolutely cartoonish, and the execution is even worse.

 

Federal doctor Emily Grey flash-freezes her brain so as to copy it into an AI, which she is pressed by her associate Locus into torturing. 

 

This brutal torture creates numerous fragments, and they are implanted into the heads of a group of black soldiers, known as Fragment Infantry, or FragInt. 

 

These troops, given names based on chemical elements, quickly develop personalities and many fight against their "fragments".

 

One, Thorium, is a heavy drinker and infiltrator, with a quick wit. His roommate, Francium, is a father figure, and has a twin sister. 

 

Sadly, the FragInt troopers aren't quite as docile as they might seem, and after they threaten to uproot the Federation from within, Doctor Grey is set on the run.

 

In this phase of the blockbuster, Grey must use her primitive training to hunt down and kill each of the seven FragInt soldiers. 

 

After having shot, vaporized, left for dead, battered with a hammer, deconstructed via surgery, or otherwise killing the FragInt troopers, Grey confronts the last one, Arsenic, who is revealed as her daughter.

 

The two fistfight on a space station (despite the lack of space capability during the war), and Arsenic describes to Grey the pain involved in the FragInt creation process. 

 

This philosophical discussion, of course, comes when both of the fighters have thoroughly shredded each other's clothing.

 

Finally, Dr. Grey asks for Arsenic's gun, and in the only intelligent part of this famous train wreck, she shoots herself.

 

Locus refused to comment on his bit part in the film, and Dr. Grey (Who was very much alive, having escaped as a noncombatant) was known to hold screenings of the film for riffing purposes.

 

It includes such lines as, "Looks like we're good as  _Gold."_ , "I need some space." (After ejecting FragInt trooper Uranium through an airlock), and "Morality is as grey as I am!"

 

 

 

 

 


	3. Conspiracy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The war at Chorus has created some truly nasty conspiracy theories.
> 
> From www.theswordisakey.com to the "B.A.D. guys" to the "D.G. Kimball Tapes", nonsense flows like a waterfall.
> 
> I have some thoughts.

Yes. This is, in fact, a conspiracy theory chapter. I understand that this is nearly as far from history as you can get.

That said, I was in college once, and this will be a college textbook, so I want to actually have something for the non-history buffs in my readership. Thank me later.

To begin our examination of conspiracy theories, forgeries, et cetera, we should start with the infamous website www.theswordisakey.com, run by Lavernius Tucker.

The place is a hive of anger, chatter and discussion about nearly-entirely absurd topics.

 

Tucker himself perpetuates the common but debunked idea that the entire war was a sham.

He postulates that the sudden entrance of Charon Industries after the war was a set-up, and that Charon Industries has some sort of military branch which orchestrated the war.

In addition to the fact that this idea bares similarities to _Attack of the Clones,_ which should doom the theory in itself, it has been denied numerous times by Locus and Felix Park, who were there.

The complexities in orchestrating such a war through plants are also enough to doom such a theory.

 

Secondly, the topic of the black-armored soldiers, called BAD guys (a corruption of Black ArmoreD) by theorists and nutjobs because black-armored-soldiers is just too long.

These BAD guys, more commonly known as Federal Salvage Officers to those of us who actually study military history, are everything from agents of the evil organization Charon to Sangheili.

Personally, I prefer the aliens explanation.

Yes, we have clear video evidence that the FSO troops were known for using alien artifacts in firing squads, massacres, et cetera. They have been tried and convicted.

The FSO were nothing more than human beings with license to do evil to save a dying nation. They were closer to the CIA or SWAT teams of the Federal army than black-clad monsters with ties to the Masons.

 

Finally, we have what may be one of the most controversial pieces to discuss for the chapter. The D.G. Kimball Tapes.

The D.G. tapes are known for being extremely elaborate, complex, and in line with Kimball's voice and her personality, according to her associates and family.

They also paint a picture radically different than what we typically assume of Napalm Kimball, and of Felix Park.

 

_" **Logbook:** My name is Vanessa Kimball. I am not alone. This war will end. _

_One way or another. I have one human being in this room beside me, Charles Palomo, Private. **Gunshot**_

_I am alone. I will not witness this death firsthand, nor will I run away. _

_**Gunshot and sound of emergency sirens** _

_KIMBALL! Are you…Oh god. Kimball shot herself. Jensen! Kimball’s dead. I’m not joking.”_

 

Another excerpt:

 

_**"Logbook:** I have been appointed as President, and I hope to lead my nation to safety. _

_I am sure that with proper study of history we can triumph._

_I have had a conversation with one of the local Staff Sergeants, a Charles Palomo._

_I hope I’ll have better company. Regardless, this will have a happy ending. I swear it. **Logbook end."**_

 

Here we see an interesting excerpt, a supposed log of Felix to some shadowy master, "Control". This, I feel, is the most damning piece of evidence that this is simple conspiracy nonsense.

 

_They thought they would win. They really did._

_And you know what? They never could._

_Because that's what the job is all about, in the end!_

_But the murder-suicide was a nice touch._

_I'd just planned to plant some arsenic in her next meal, she's the one who made it heroic._

_And by God did that make it easy to get that puppet Smith to lead the final charge._

_You got that, Control? 'Cause I sure as hell did._

 

If I may use such language in an educational piece, BULLSHIT!

I'm sure the actual Felix Park would agree with me.

 

 


	4. Felix and the Battle of Armonia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Here our talented military analyst discusses the (unquestioned) account of Felix's frontline raids during the Battle of Armonia, a short conflict that nonetheless put Antietam to shame.

_**Look, Simmons, I get that I'm really fucking late on manuscripts. Consider it a break. You're not editing anything when I'm late, right?** _

 

 

Felix.  Fucking Felix. This one guy. We all know him. He's the Hero of Chorus. We all like the guy. I actually got an interview between him and Galactic News Net anchor Norton Diaz.

> GNN: Felix Park? You survived the Battle of Armonia.
> 
> Felix: Yeah, but I think that the real problem is how many people didn't. To cover up Kimball's strike campaigns, so many people had to die. Worst of all was the poor General Doyle, a true soldier trying to make things work in a country under siege.
> 
> GNN: But you fought with the New Republic.
> 
> Felix: Frankly, I'm a mercenary. I'm a noble guy, sure, but at the end of the day I need to eat too.
> 
> GNN: What do you think about the use of machine gun emplacements out of civilian stores and offices?
> 
> Felix: I think it's horrible. We can all agree that the desperation and pain of the war wounds us all.
> 
> GNN: Truly. I had a sister who was vacationing there, actually. 
> 
> Felix: Right. Her.. road trip was fun, right?
> 
> GNN: I didn't go.
> 
> Felix: Right, right. Did she tell you anything about the trip?
> 
> GNN: Nothing you wouldn't already know.
> 
> Felix: Me? Why? 

Here we see Felix's famed oratorical skill. He has an interview with Norton Diaz, and he instead uses it to learn more about that reporter's storied past. I suppose he's tired of telling his story at Armonia, what with all the book deals and movies he's got. According to _Wars in the Twenty-Sixth Century: A Compilation,_ Felix was known for his heroic charges and his role as the voice of sanity for the often-conflicted New Republic army, a role that he portrays in his films.

Felix himself has actually become something of a sex symbol, as the twenty-seven kills attributed to him mix with his frankly svelte Korean body and known history of seduction (largely exaggerated by Felix himself) to create a good-guy hero for the masses.

Personally, I'm not moved.


End file.
